Memorial to Thomas Joseph Morton Schopf 1939-1984

G ILBER T K L A PPE RD epartm ent o f Geology, The University o f Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242

Thom as Schopf, founder of the highly influential jou r­nal P aleob io logy and rec ip ien t o f th e prestig ious Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society, died suddenly on M arch 18, 1984, while leading University of Chicago paleobiology students on a field trip at the Texas coast. He was a distinguished scientist whose interests and scholarly research included paleontology, m arine biology, oceanography, microbiology, and most recently, the history o f science. Tom studied all these fields with deep com m itm ent and seriousness of pu r­pose, bu t at the same tim e w ith u tte r enjoym ent in his chosen work. C ertainly he was a leading evolutionary paleontologist whose contributions are all the more rem arkable considering th a t his earliest publication was in 1966.

Tom was born in U rbana, Illinois, on A ugust 26, 1939, the son of Esther J. Nissen and the late Jam es M. Schopf, a renowned paleobotanist and coal geologist who had a distinguished career w ith the Illinois S tate and U.S. Geological Surveys. He is survived by his m other, o f C olum bus, Ohio; his young children, Kenneth, C arl, and Jennifer, who live w ith their m other in Cleveland; and his brother, J . W illiam Schopf. a professor of geology at the University o f California at Los Angeles and a leading authority on P recam brian paleobiology. P art of the inform ation for this m em orial was derived from rem arks by D avid R aup, William Schopf, George Stocking. L eonard R adinsky, and Jam es H opson a t a m em orial service held on the University o f Chicago campus on M arch 28, as well as from recollections of W alter Sweet.

E ducated in the public school systems of P ittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Colum bus, O hio, T om ’s early interest in paleontology was kindled on weekly visits to the Carnegie M useum with his b ro th er Bill. They were guided by their m other during a time when their fa ther was on a six-m onth leave to the South A frican G eological Survey. N one­theless, the fa th e r’s exam ple and personality were T om ’s first m ajo r influences leading him into the field o f paleontology.

Tom Schopf was an avid participant in all the m ajor sports through his high school days, a C olum bus high school tennis cham pion, and a successful intram ural basketball player in college and th roughout his later years. He was a great lover of jazz music and a habitue of Chicago South Side jazz clubs. An oft-repeated wish was fulfilled when Thelonius M onk’s ‘“ R ound M idnight” was played at the beginning and end of T om ’s mem orial service.

A fter finishing high school a year early with nearly a straight-A average. Tom received an A.B. in geology in 1960 from O berlin College, where he also excelled in zoology, m athem atics, French, and German. At Oberlin. he came under the influence of one of the outstanding teachers of paleontology, L arry D eM ott, who recently retired after a distinguished career, first at Oberlin and later at Knox College. Tom went on to the Ohio S tate University, where he received a Ph.D . in geology in 1964. working under

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the guidance of ano ther outstanding teacher of geology and leading biostratigrapher, W alter Sweet. A m ong T om ’s graduate student colleagues were Stig Bergstrom and Anita Epstein Harris. His Ph.D . dissertation was a comprehensive study of the biostratigraphy and m ultielem ent taxonom y of O rdovician conodonts from New York, O ntario , and Quebec. The work, published in 1966, together with the publication m onths later of research done by Gerry W ebers on O rdovician conodonts of M innesota, and a study by Sweet and Bergstrom of conodonts from equivalent-age strata in the C incinnati Arch region, launched the initial acceptance of m ultielem ent taxonom y. The revolutionary im pact o f th is change in taxonom ic procedure in the study of conodonts was heralded at a Geological Society of America meeting in 1965 in a presentation by W ebers o f the independent results o f the three investigations.

Upon com pletion o f the Ph.D ., Tom took the step tha t started his career in m arine biology, oceanography, and later m icrobiology. From 1964 to 1967, he was a post­doctoral fellow at the M arine Biological L aboratory at W oods Hole where he began his investigations of the biology of the Bryozoa (E ctoprocta); his affiliation with W oods Hole continued during the 1970s where he lectured and did research in the D epartm ent of Experim ental Invertebrate Zoology. In the late 1960s Tom became the first paleontologist to study gel electrophoresis and apply the results of this technique to the genetics of living organism s of paleontological im portance. His studies o f the genetic variation in the Bryozoa established his reputation am ong evolutionary biologists, a rem arkable accom ­plishm ent considering tha t he was self-taught as a geneticist and biochemist. It was a leading characteristic of Tom Schopf that he continued his education long after the P h .D .—near the end of his life he was teaching him self and doing research in DNA sequencing.

Tom taught as an assistant professor at Lehigh University from 1967 to 1969 in the D epartm ent of Geological Sciences and the C enter fo r M arine and E nvironm ental Studies. He joined the University of Chicago in 1969 where he became an associate professor in 1972 and a full professor in 1978. At Chicago he was associated with several departm ents, reflecting his interdisciplinary interests: the Geophysical Sciences, the Com m ittee on Evolutionary Biology, and the M orris Fishbein Center for the Study of the H istory of Science and Medicine. In the Geophysical Sciences, his colleagues in the paleobiology section of the departm ent were R alph Johnson and Fred Ziegler, later Dave R aup, Jack Sepkoski, and Ziegler. To jo in an inform al luncheon as 1 did in early 1984 with Tom, Dave, Jack, Fred, and their graduate students was to become immediately aware of an electrifying research environm ent represented by the group at Chicago.

Tom Schopf published m ore than 150 titles from 1966 to early 1984; at the tim e of his death, several more papers were subm itted as well as a book-length m anuscript on the history of science, based on the A rnold Raven M em orial lectures that he had presented at Chicago in the autum n of 1983. Tom was the fourth recipient o f the Schuchert A ward, given by the Paleontological Society in N ovem ber 1976 (his three predecessors were D avid R aup, William Schopf, and Stephen Jay Gould). He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981; was a visiting professor at the University of H am burg, West Germ any, 1978-79; and was a visiting research associate a t Cal Tech, 1981-82; at various times he was associated with the Field M useum of N atural H istory and the Friday H arbor L aboratories o f the University of W ashington. Tom received a total o f nine N ational Science Foundation grants in support of his diverse investigations from four different sections of the foundation: E arth Sciences, System atic Biology. Biological O ceanography, and the A ntarctic Program . He was a m em ber o f 21 professional societies, was a Fellow of the Geological Society o f America, and at the time of his death, was president elect o f the Society for the Study of Evolution.

MEMORIAL TO THOMAS JO SEPH MORTON SCHOPF 3

As a logical outgrow th of his desire to effect an interaction between research in paleontology and evolutionary biology, in 1975 he founded with R alph Johnson the journal Paleobiology published under the auspices of the Paleontological Society. T om ’s proposals fo r this new journal were initially refected by the Council o f the society, largely for financial considerations and the unw arranted fear tha t such a publication would seriously overlap with the Journal o f Paleontology. He walked dejectedly from that meeting, but was charged by W alt Sweet o f the Council to dem onstrate the error in the Council’s thinking. Thus, he prepared a questionnaire tha t was circulated to the m em ber­ship o f the Paleontological Society, which proved the widespread interest in such a journal. Furtherm ore, Tom spent part o f the next sum m er a t W oods Hole w riting over 250 letters to libraries around the world, establishing a potential list o f institutional subscribers. He w rote all the letters in longhand, for he believed tha t a form letter would not suffice. W hen he returned to the next Council meeting, Tom had not only established the econom ic feasibility o f the jou rnal, bu t he also had a list o f firm contribu tors for the first volume. Paleobiology has always operated in the black and is perhaps unique am ong international paleontological journals in its rigorous reviewing standards, resulting in an extremely high rejection rate and lack of a backlog o f manuscripts.

Tom was coed ito r o f Paleobiology with R alph Johnson from 1975 to 1976 and with Jam es H opson from 1977 to 1980. His editorial im print on the journal, not to m ention his own research papers and num erous reviews, will have a lasting im pact. The first num ber o f 1985 will be an anniversary issue dedicated to Tom Schopf.

As an organizer o f a Paleontological Society symposium, Tom played a crucial role at a historical m om ent in the study of evolutionary paleontology. Tom organized the sym posium titled “M odels in Paleontology,” held at the annual meetings o f the Paleonto­logical Society and the Geological Society of America in N ovem ber 1971. The m anu­scripts fo r the sym posium were subm itted in M arch 1971, edited by Tom and published as M odels in Paleobiology by Freem an, C ooper and Co. in 1972. In M arch 1970, Tom had invited Stephen G ould to present a paper on “M odels of Speciation” at this symposium. G ould joined Niles Eldredge to deliver and write “Punctuated Equilibria: An A lternative to Phyletic G radualism ,” unquestionably one of the m ost influential papers ever published in paleontology and one that has inspired much of the research in the field th roughout the subsequent years. It is perhaps ironical tha t Tom Schopf was one of the leading opponents o f punctuated equilibria, a dom inant theory held by many of the paleobiologists who publish in the journal Tom founded.

T om no doubt m ade some potential contributers to Paleobiology upset—how could he no t have w ith the high rejection rate. But as an aspiring contributer who once had a m anuscript rejected after four reviews, two of which were negative, I believe that Tom was extremely fair in his editorial dealings. In his kind letter o f rejection, he mainly addressed how my co-au thor and I could revise the m anuscript along lines that would justify its resubmission, which he invited. At a Geological Society of America meeting a year later he inquired about the m anuscript and expressed great pleasure tha t it had been accepted for publication in Lethaia.

The following is an extract from a letter by W alt Sweet (dated Septem ber 13, 1984).

My principal characterization of Tom would probably be that he was never super­ficially interested in anything. If he was interested at all. he went whole hog—and he had little patience with, or understanding of. anyone who didn't. He was one with whom I could (and did) discuss outrageous ideas with the assurance that I’d get a studied, and usually enthusiastic, response. He had no use for conventions, other that those imposed by law, and was always both blunt and direct in dealing with others.This probably got him in trouble with as many folks as it pleased. He was immensely

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loyal to his friends, and almost incredibly generous with his time, advice, and even his money. Tom and I didn’t agree about a lot of things, but I think we shared a respect for honest, if unacceptable, opinions and thus managed a close friendship for many years. In personality and intensity and breadth of interest. Tom and his dad were much alike, and to those of us who were close to the two of them, it is clear that Jim was Tom’s model in virtually everything, from speech patterns to research methodology to bluntness.

Tom was a lucid writer in his scientific papers, but as Leonard Radinsky has observed, he struggled to present his ideas at sem inars on evolutionary morphology in the D epartm ent o f A natom y at Chicago, even though his topic was the Bryozoa on which he was an in ternational authority . He seemed to R adinsky alm ost as unsure and nervous as a first-year graduate student. W ith his colleagues in paleontology, as well as o ther disci­plines, he was unusually open and receptive to criticism, eager to discuss contrary views.

1 first m et Tom in 1963 when he was a graduate student at Ohio S tate bu t spending his sum m er w orking as John H uddle’s assistant on conodonts at the U.S. N ational M useum and living at the H uddle’s home near R ock Creek Park in W ashington. Tom had an engaging smile, was over 6 feet tall, and had an athletic physique tha t he m ain­tained to the end. He was always eager to learn the results o f my research, even though our interests diverged greatly after he finished his Ph.D . 1 visited him twice in early 1984, the second tim e about two weeks before his death. My last m em ory of Tom was o f a late Friday afternoon on the beautiful Chicago cam pus where, after discussing current research, we spent an hour together at the Sem inary Bookstore. He then directed me to a used bookstore down the street and went the opposite direction with two new books on h istory under his arm.

S E L E C T E D B IB L IO G R A P H Y O F T .J .M . S C H O P F

1966 C onodonts of the Trenton G roup (Ordovician) in New York, southern O ntario, and Quebec: New York State M useum and Science Service Bulletin 405, 105 p.

1967 (and M anheim, F. T.) Chemical com position of Ectoprocta (Bryozoa): Jou rnal of Paleontology, v. 41, p. 1197-1225.

1969_Paleoecology of ectoprocts (bryozoans): Journal of Paleontology, v. 43, p. 234-244. ____ G eographic and depth distribution of the Phylum E ctoprocta from 200 to

6,000 meters: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, v. 113, p. 464-474.1970 Taxonom ic diversity gradients o f ectoprocts and bivalves and their geologic

implications: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 81, p. 3765-3768.____ (with Gooch, J. L.) Population genetics o f m arine species o f the Phylum Ectoprocta:

Biological Bulletin, v. 138. p. 138-156.1971 (and Farm anfarm aian, A., and Gooch, J. L.) Oxygen consum ption rates and their

paleontological significance: Journal o f Paleontology, v. 45, p. 247-252.____ (with Gooch, J. L.) Genetic variation in the marine ectoproct Schizoporella errata:

Biological Bulletin, v. 141, p. 235-246.1972 (editor) Models in paleobiology: San Francisco, Freem an, C ooper & Co., 250 p.____ (and Gooch, J. L.) A natural experim ent to test the hypothesis that loss o f genetic

variability was responsible for mass extinctions o f the fossil record: Journal of Geology, v. 80, p. 481-483.

1973 (with R aup, D. M., G ould, S. J ., and Simberloff, D. S.) Stochastic models of phylogeny and the evolution of diversity: Journal of Geology, v. 81, p. 525-542.

1974 Perm o-Triassic extinctions: relation to sea-floor spreading: Journal o f Geology, v. 82, p. 129-143.

M E M O R I A L T O T H O M A S J O S E P H M O R T O N S C H O P F 5

1975 (and R aup, D. M., Gould, S. J ., and Simberloff, D. S.) Genomic versus morphologic rates of evolution: influence o f m orphologic complexity: Paleobiology, v. !, p. 63-70.

1976 Environm ental versus genetic causes of m orphologic variability in bryozoan colonies from the deep sea: Paleobiology, v. 2, p. 156-165.

------ (and D utton , A. R.) Parallel clines in m orphologic and genetic differentiation in acoastal zone marine invertebrate: the bryozoan Schizoporella errata: Paleobiology, v. 2, p. 255-264.

1977 Population genetics of bryozoans, in W oollacott, R. M.. and Zimmer, R. L., eds.. Biology of bryozoans: New York, Academic Press, p. 459-486.

------ (with G ould, S. J., Raup, D. M., Sepkoski, J. J ., Jr., and Simberloff, D. S.) Theshape of evolution: a com parison o f real and random clades: Paleobiology, v. 3, p. 23-40.

1978 Fossilization potential of an intertidal fauna: Friday H arbor, W ashington: Paleobiology, v. 4, p. 261-270

------ (and Fisher, J. B., and Sm ith, C .A .F., III) Is the marine latitudinal diversitygradient merely another example o f the species area curve?, in Battaglia, B., and Beardmore, J. A., eds.. M arine organisms: genetics, ecology, and evolution:New York, Plenum Press, p. 365-386.

1979 The role o f biogeographic provinces in regulating marine faunal diversity through geologic time, in Gray, J .. and Boucot, A. J ., eds., Historical biogeography, plate tectonics, and the changing environment: Corvallis, Oregon S tate University Press, p. 449-457.

------ Evolving paleontological views on deterministic and stochastic approaches:Paleobiology, v. 5, p. 337-352.

1980 Paleoceanography: Cambridge, H arvard University Press, 341 p.------ Topics and trends o f presidential addresses of the Paleontological Society: 1909—

1979, in Schopf, T .J.M ., ed., Presidential addresses o f the Paleontological Society: New York, A rno Press, p. 1-24.

1981 Evidence from findings of molecular biology with regard to the rapidity o f genomic change: implications for species durations, in Niklas, K. J ., ed.. Paleobotany, paleoecology and evolution. Volume 1: New York, Praeger Publishers, p. 135-192.

------ Punctuated equilibrium and evolutionary stasis: Paleobiology, v. 7, p. 156-166.------ A critical assessment of punctuated equilibria. I. D uration of taxa: Evolution,

v. 36, p. 1144-1157.------ Extinction of the dinosaurs: a 1982 undertstanding, in Silver, L. T., and Schultz.

P. H., eds., Geological implications o f im pacts of large asteroids and comets on the earth: Geological Society of America Special Paper 190, p. 415-422.

1983 Paleozoic black shales in relation to continental m argin upwelling, in Thiede, J., and Suess, E., eds.. Coastal upwelling: its sediment record, Part B: Sedimentary records of ancient coastal upwelling: New York, Plenum Press, p. 579-596.

------ DNA structures: the fourth approach to com parative biology: Cold SpringH arbor Symposia on Q uantitative Biology, v. 47, p. 1159-1164.

------ Sum m ary o f a critical assessment o f punctuated equilibria, in Chaline, J ., ed..M odalités, Rythmes, Mécanismes de l’Évolution biologique: Colloques Inter­nationaux du Centre N ational de la Recherche Scientifique no. 330, p. 51-54.

------ (and Hoffm an, A.) Punctuated equilibrium and the fossil record: Science, v. 219,p. 438-439.

1984 Rates of evolution and the notion of “living fossils”: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 12, p. 245-292.

Printed in U.S.A. 4/85